Udon Thani Immigration Office

Post by **semperfiguy** » March 23, 2011, 10:48 am

NOLA wrote:Tutone...I agree with you and I also have had my yellow book for six years now and was asked for the map to my home on my last retirement extension, which is only a requirement for marriage visa extensions...I was also informed that Immigration officers are from the Thailand Police...If this is true, I'm sure the police could find me, why can't they??? I think they just like to abuse the power they have over us...That last rule they use should be stricken from the requirements.

Nola, I totally agree with you. However, I truly believe that this exercise is not designed to be able to locate you, but rather to demonstrate that you can find your way back home. Someone who professes to be in a legitimate relationship and has established a secure and permanent residence in Udon should have no problem sketching a map. If that person doesn't know his way around Udon and can't orient his home to the immigration office, then it's a red flag that this person should be questioned further.

Post by **BobHelm** » March 23, 2011, 11:08 am

Why...this was for a retirement visa...there is no requirement to be a stable relationship for that - or to have stable & permanent residence. In fact NOT living in a permanent abode would be one of the pleasures of retirement in Thailand - go where you like within the country whenever you like at the drop of a hat...

Post by **semperfiguy** » March 23, 2011, 11:22 am

BobHelm wrote:Why...this was for a retirement visa...there is no requirement to be a stable relationship for that - or to have stable & permanent residence. In fact NOT living in a permanent abode would be one of the pleasures of retirement in Thailand - go where you like within the country whenever you like at the drop of a hat...

Bob, again I totally agree with you. I'm only suggesting that the Thai mindset is totally whackers from our perspective. Most of the time their perception of matters is 180 degrees from reality. I have 10 rather nice bushes planted along the front fence of the house that I rent. My wife says they aren't growing well because that particular plant should have been put in the ground on a Saturday for optimum growth. This Saturday she will uproot them all and replant them. I have her guarantee that they will then prosper with beautiful foliage. Well excuse me...why didn't I think of that? Go figure!

Post by **arjay** » March 23, 2011, 11:36 am

I agree, it seems to be a case of think up what new or additional hoops we can get people to jump through, and rather whimsical ones at that. - We don't want to make things seem too easy now do we?!

As Bob says there can be little or no point at all with a Retirement Visa, indeed we could be staying at a local Guest House and moving around often.

It somehow seems that they are cross-pollinating their own self-introduced, additional requirement that they apply to Married visa applicants over to the retirement visa situation. Maybe if one is a retirement visa holder one could give them a brochure for a local hotel (one with a map) and say that's where I'm staying this week!!

Though it wouldn't surprise me if they then countered that by asking for you to bring in the hotel owner/manager with his ID card and house registration book.!!

SFG, I hope the bushes blossom well, assuming they can make it to the wet season.

Post by **parrot** » March 23, 2011, 11:40 am

Given that Thais aren't the world's best map makers (those who were here before udonmap created a real map of Udon know what I'm talking about), perhaps there is a gang of immigration slaves piecing together all the falang drawn maps to create a detailed map of Thailand. Once that's accomplished, problems like Preah Vihear will go away.

I was as chagrined as the next guy when the 'nice' lady at immigration said 'map'. But in the grand scheme of things (bank books, embassy statement, photos of the home, bank letter, photos, watches/soaps/makeup for sale, etc), the map can be created on the spot with a few lines and words. I live 18km outside Udon. My map had 3 lines, a U (symbolizing Udon), a N (symbolizing Nongwahsaw), a kilo 18 mark, and a box with slanted top (symbolizing my home). She took it happily.

Post by **arjay** » March 23, 2011, 1:47 pm

Parrot, I trust you included the watches and sandwiches order forms duly completed?!

Post by **parrot** » March 23, 2011, 1:59 pm

We bought a bar of soap from her the first year she began selling things (in Nongkai) many years ago. Our next trip, wisened and defenses strengthened, my wife declined the offer for makeup saying her skin was sensitive. The next year, watches....my wife showed off her Gucci and declined the offer for a fake whateveritwas. I'll take the map lady any day over the pseudo-Amway dealer. (That whole idea of having all your paperwork on her side of the desk, and then she slides open that drawer of goods and offers them to you with that smile.......that's as close to taking a bribe without asking for one as I can imagine).

Post by **Brian Davis** » March 23, 2011, 4:12 pm

Fairly recently, I provided a map for my first, successful visa application based on marriage. To my knowledge, nobody has used it to check out that the house is, indeed, where I live. So I'm well out of Udon in Phen, live next to the Poo Yai Bahn, who was also my witness, so perhaps a well-known enough location not to bother?
Looks like I've saved myself a free lunch, petrol money, tea money whatever!

Post by **stargate** » March 26, 2011, 10:47 am

re thai bank book, picked up my certificate of income from the U.K.embassy two days ago and was told they have been told by thai immigration they must make better checks on your income. this means if you have income coming direct to your thai bank they want to see doccuments from the supplier of the income as your thai bank book does not show where the money has come from.if you do not have the doccuments they would be reluctant to include the payment in your income.

Post by **stargate** » April 6, 2011, 4:35 pm

my 90 day report was dueon the 4th and retirement visa expired on the 5th so on the 4th go for renewal. first stop kasikorn main bank for statement, after 30 minwait they tell me i must go to my own branch where i find the man who does the letters is not in.. go for immagration for 90 day report. the wife is with me and as soon as we are in the door she is telling the man she thinks is the boss the saga of the bank. i fill in the visa extension form and 10 mins latter i am paying 2000 baht for new visa and wife is telling the officer keep the 100 b. what i want to know is was i just very lucky to get the renewal without thia bank details or is this the norm when getting a renewal

Post by **arjay** » April 6, 2011, 4:50 pm

If, noting your previous post, you had an Embassy letter confirming your pension income was sufficient, maybe they weren't too bothered about your bank book. Maybe, under those circumstances, it was sufficient for them just to know that you had one.

Post by **semperfiguy** » April 6, 2011, 4:58 pm

stargate wrote:my 90 day report was dueon the 4th and retirement visa expired on the 5th so on the 4th go for renewal. first stop kasikorn main bank for statement, after 30 minwait they tell me i must go to my own branch where i find the man who does the letters is not in.. go for immagration for 90 day report. the wife is with me and as soon as we are in the door she is telling the man she thinks is the boss the saga of the bank. i fill in the visa extension form and 10 mins latter i am paying 2000 baht for new visa and wife is telling the officer keep the 100 b. what i want to know is was i just very lucky to get the renewal without thia bank details or is this the norm when getting a renewal

So, are you saying that perhaps they accepted your income statement from the UK Embassy and you really didn't need any confirmation from the bank like your embassy people told you?

Post by **stargate** » April 6, 2011, 5:35 pm

this was the first time i have renewed my retirement visa so i expected to show same paperwork as before ie certifcate of income from embassy and bank book and letter from thai bank. from what happened on monday it would seem that immagration are not interested about your thai bank only certificate of income when renewing visa

Post by **papaguido** » April 6, 2011, 5:41 pm

My experience back in November, an immigration officer advised me that a bank statement wasn't required as long as my monthly income was over 65K. If my monthly income (as shown on Embassy affidavit) was right at 65K or a bit under because of fluctuations in the exchange rate, then a bank statement would be required. In which case the bank statements have to show deposits of 65K or over.

Post by **stargate** » April 6, 2011, 8:17 pm

thank you for that papaguido, we get alot written on how to get the visa but very little about renewal. your info could stop people wasting their time getting documents they do not need. semperfiguy , i wrote that the staff at u.k. embassy were under pressure from thai immagration to be more careful when checking details for certificate of income,if you get income from outside thailand coming direct into your thai bank then the embassy could ask for documents showing the source of income. if you can not show where the income is coming from then there is a good chance the embassy will refuse to include in your income and could lead to a refusal of certificate of income. i suppose the staff at other embassies are under the same orders.

Post by **BobHelm** » April 6, 2011, 8:23 pm

stargate wrote:i wrote that the staff at u.k. embassy were under pressure from thai immagration to be more careful when checking details for certificate of income

I doubt very much if that is the actual reason stargate.
American citizens, for example, need to show no proof of income what so ever. They just swear an affidavit to say what they claim in way of income is correct.
I would suspect that the requirement has more to do with UK reporting than anything to do with the Thai Government or Thai Immigration.

Post by **stargate** » April 6, 2011, 8:55 pm

so the u.k. staff told me a pack of lies and i had to wait 30 mins for nothing untill a more senior official gave permission for my certificate of income , which was ready for me, to be released

Post by **papaguido** » April 6, 2011, 9:50 pm

stargate wrote:thank you for that papaguido, we get alot written on how to get the visa but very little about renewal. your info could stop people wasting their time getting documents they do not need.

I don't know if it's office policy or up to the immigration officer that assisted me. I would recommend that anyone applying or coming up for renewal go to the immigration office to ask what documentation is required.

Post by **BobHelm** » April 6, 2011, 10:13 pm

stargate wrote:so the u.k. staff told me a pack of lies and i had to wait 30 mins for nothing untill a more senior official gave permission for my certificate of income , which was ready for me, to be released

I think 'a pack of lies' is a bit harsh stargate. I am sure that what they told you IS the policy of the UK Embassy in Bangkok. I would just question as to if the reason for the policy has much to do with Thai Immigration. I think they are probably using the Thai Immigration as an excuse.

Post by **arjay** » April 6, 2011, 11:05 pm

Stargate, as I said earlier:

Postby arjay » April 6, 2011, 4:50 pm
If, noting your previous post, you had an Embassy letter confirming your pension income was sufficient, maybe they weren't too bothered about your bank book. Maybe, under those circumstances, it was sufficient for them just to know that you had one

Stargate, There are 3 routes by which you can extend your retirement visa. One is based on income, which appears to be the route that you took, and hence IMO that's why they weren't bothered about your Thai bank account, as you had the letter from your Embassy (though be aware it is at their discretion).

The other route is having the 800K in a Thai bank account. I suggest if you had taken that route, they would have wanted to see the letter from your Thai bank "certifying" the balance in your bank book, along with your bank book itself and would have checked how long the money had been in the account etc.

The third route is where you use a combination of both and no doubt you would have been required to fulfill both lots of requirements, or jump through both hoops.

At the end of the day, those are the basic requirements, it is at their discretion what they chose to insist upon or what hoops they want you to jump through, or indeed if they choose to make life a bit easier for you; - in which case I would suggest - don't knock it..